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Youth Akali Dal leader Vicky Middukhera shot dead in Punjab’s Mohali town
Assailants chased him down as he was about to sit in his SUV and fired about 20 rounds, killing him on the spot
Youth Akali Dal leader Vikramjit Singh Middukhera, aka Vicky Middukhera, 33, was shot dead in Sector 71, Mohali, on Saturday morning.
Hours after the murder, the Davinder Bambiha gang took responsibility for the attack in a Facebook post.
The four assailants had come in a white Hyundai i20 car bearing a Mohali registration number. Police said Vicky was shot by two of the four masked men who chased him and fired at him repeatedly as he was about to sit in his SUV after visiting the office of a property dealer at the Mataur market in Sector 71 around 10.30am.
“The shooters fired about 20 rounds, of which nine bullets hit the victim,” said Satinder Singh, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Mohali.
The entire incident was caught on a CCTV camera installed in the area and shows the shooters were waiting for Vicky. They started firing as he sat in his vehicle, prompting him to run out for cover.
Ran for life as licensed pistol lay in SUV
Eyewitnesses said Vicky ran for his life for about 500 metres with the shooters raining bullets on him, and even managed to scale the wall of the community centre in Sector 71 to get cover, but could not survive. Vicky used to carry a licensed pistol that was kept in his vehicle but did not get a chance to grab it.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said that the youth wing leader died on the spot. The body has been kept at the mortuary of the civil hospital in Phase 6, Mohali, for postmortem.
Police have impounded the SUV and recovered empty cartridges from the crime spot. A case of murder was registered at the Mataur police station.
Bambiha gang takes responsibility
“As a social media post by the Bambiha gang has claimed responsibility for the murder, we are looking into it. Our prime suspect is Lucky,” said the SSP. Gaurav Patial, alias Lucky, runs the Bambiha gang.
In the Facebook post, the gang claimed that Vicky was killed as he was allegedly acting as an “informer” for the rival Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Both Bambiha and Bishnoi gangs are running extortion racket in the region.
After Bambiha was killed in a police encounter, Dilpreet Singh Dahan, Sukhpreet Singh Buddha and Gaurav Patiala, alias Lucky, took the reins of the gang.
Now, with the other two behind bars, sources said Lucky is calling the shots from Armenia. His name had earlier cropped up in the murder of Gurlal Brar, an aide of Bishnoi who was shot dead outside a nightclub in Chandigarh last year. His name had also cropped up when Dilpreet and Sukhpreet had left Punjabi singer Parmish Verma injured in April 2018 in Mohali.
‘Was on the hit list of gangsters’
“Vicky had for long been on the hit list of gangsters, owing to his support to Bishnoi since student politics as they both were at one point affiliated to the Students Organisation of Panjab University,” said a senior police officer privy to the investigations.
According to police records, two criminal cases were registered against Vicky in Chandigarh and Mohali in the past one year. The first case was registered for alleged extortion at the Sector 39 police station in October 2020.The other was registered for an alleged assault at the Mataur police station in February 2021.
SAD spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said: “We would not like to comment on any Facebook post. Let police investigate and come up with something concrete. There is a need for inquiry on merit.”
SAD demands independent probe
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday condemned the broad daylight murder of Youth Akali Dal leader and former Student Organisation of India (SOI) president Vicky Middukhera, saying it was a direct fallout of the free rein the Congress government in Punjab has given to the gangsters.
Demanding an independent probe into the killing, party MLA Bikram Singh Majithia said the shootout in Mohali, which is in proximity to the state capital Chandigarh, proved that no one is safe in Punjab.
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and his wife, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, expressed “shock” and “grief” over the murder. “This tragic incident is testimony to the chaotic state of law and order in Punjab,” Sukhbir shared on Twitter. Youth Akali Dal president Parambans Singh Romana also condoled Vicky’s death.
Proactive student leader
Ever since he joined Panjab University in 2009, Vicky Middukhera, remained a proactive student politician on the campus for nearly a decade and played a pivotal role in strengthening the SOI, student wing of SAD.
Until 2020, he was in charge of the SOI’s Chandigarh unit. He had actively campaigned for the SAD in the assembly and parliamentary elections as well. Before joining the SOI, he was with the SOPU and became its state president in 2013.
Student leaders expressed shock over his death, with social media flooded with posts expressing grief.
Two Bambiha gang members held in Panchkula
Two members of the Davinder Bambiha gang wanted in seven criminal cases have been arrested, the Panchkula police said on Saturday.
The gangsters, identified as Saurabh, alias Mau, and Arjun, alias Ajju, were apprehended by the crime branch, following a tip-off, on the Nalagarh-Pinjore road around 6pm on Friday. A 9mm countrymade pistol was also recovered from them.
The news comes the same day Youth Akali Dal leader Vikramjit Singh Middukhera was shot dead in the neighbouring Mohali district, for which the Bambiha gang has claimed responsibility.
According to police, Saurabh and Arjun were earlier working for the rival Lawrence Bishnoi gang before switching sides. Most recently, they were involved in a murder in Ambala Cantonment on June 15.
“Apart from this murder, the two are involved in six criminal cases, including attempt to murder. They are hardened criminals who procured weapons for the gang,” said inspector Aman Kumar of the crime branch, adding that the duo was hatching a plan to target Bishnoi gang members.
The two were produced in court on Saturday, and sent to judicial custody. The Ambala police are expected to seek their custody on production warrants to question them in relation with the recent murder.
